I'm happy for you both. Really am. Not being sarcastic JJ. If you and him are satisfied, great.

My Daughter, now 25, got a mediocre education from public school. A slightly less bad one from private in Samoa. And a better one from private here in the Province and eventually Ateneo de Manila.

What we did is not for everyone. It was, and still is, lots of hard work and discipline.

Read Iserbyt's book. After that if your still interested we can talk.

Just to note, I never disagreed that a good solid education starts at the home. I always thought that was a given, and stating that, or reiterating, was just stating the obvious. There are always exceptions, however, I still stand very firm saying, the quality of education here in the Philippines is far far far below the USA. Its an apples or oranges comparison

I have tried that link, from my home in Canada when you first posted it, then from my home in Los Angeles a few days ago and now here in Cebu. So, with 3 different ISPs, always the same result. A blank page with the number 4009 in the upper left corner is all that appears for me. Anyone here having better luck?

I can't resist noting that by the time our kid was in grade 5 he knew that "phenomena" is the plural of "phenomenon" and he would not have made the error reflected in that sentence.

I have tried that link, from my home in Canada when you first posted it, then from my home in Los Angeles a few days ago and now here in Cebu. So, with 3 different ISPs, always the same result. A blank page with the number 4009 in the upper left corner is all that appears for me. Anyone here having better luck?

Perhaps something about my MacBook Pro the site does not like. I keep getting the blank page. I did manage to look at it by using Google to search for it. Even then, one site showed separate urls for the test and the answer sheet. I can call up the test. No luck with the answer sheet. I won't spend too much time now trying. I have other things to do here in the Phils at present.

But the test does not seem all that challenging, apart from things that require knowledge specific to West Virginia in that time. Very similar to the kind of tests we faced as kids in Toronto long ago.

I am biased the other way. I have found Apple equipment to be the most durable, reliable and user-friendly. I have had both desktops and laptops and have used both for 10 years or so. I simply buy new after a decade of service to upgrade. Never had a hardware failure of any sort. Never had software issues. They are stalwart performers for me and I need that. I use them a lot and I depend on them to earn my living. I have carried the laptops all over the planet and they have seen lots of rough and tumble and keep going. I have never seen or heard of a dead Apple computer.

It took me years to switch. I resisted Apple for years. I went through countless machines by Toshiba, IBM, IBM clones, Compaq, HP, Epson, Dell, Acer, to name just a few. In each case, the hardware eventually failed. They all died. None ever came close to 10 years of service, running all day every day. But others may have had different experience. I can relate only my own, limited, experience.

BUT, because Apple is not used by most, yes, the odd time, like the present instance with the grade 8 test seems to be, there arises a compatibility issue. It can always be worked around if required.

I am biased the other way. I have found Apple equipment to be the most durable, reliable and user-friendly. I have had both desktops and laptops and have used both for 10 years or so. I simply buy new after a decade of service to upgrade. Never had a hardware failure of any sort. Never had software issues. They are stalwart performers for me and I need that. I use them a lot and I depend on them to earn my living. I have carried the laptops all over the planet and they have seen lots of rough and tumble and keep going. I have never seen or heard of a dead Apple computer.

It took me years to switch. I resisted Apple for years. I went through countless machines by Toshiba, IBM, IBM clones, Compaq, HP, Epson, Dell, Acer, to name just a few. In each case, the hardware eventually failed. They all died. None ever came close to 10 years of service, running all day every day. But others may have had different experience. I can relate only my own, limited, experience.

BUT, because Apple is not used by most, yes, the odd time, like the present instance with the grade 8 test seems to be, there arises a compatibility issue. It can always be worked around if required.

{hijack}

I put in a whole lot of Macintosh / Novel networks all throughout the midwest. Good days.

Then Apple locked down the OS, Bios, and hdw. Made it real hard to make a living reselling their products without tithing to corporate annually in the form of mandatory training, license, and just because we can fees.

I am typing to you from an 2000 era Stinkpad. I bought it coming off lease in 2002. So that would be 17 years old. Still runs very snappy. It's nice to be able to strip out all of the unnecessary bs and compile your own kernel.

Hell .... I got a 386 laptop running slackware that manages my solar system. Keep it around because it has serial ports.

I tend to avoid any company or agency when they start thinking, and acting, like they know what's best for me.

Well lost, I hear you. I guess it comes down to we all eventually settle on something that suits us best. It would appear you have found that. It also would appear that you have some tech savvy and enjoy working with these things.

For me, I just want to buy something out of the box that works for me. I don't much care what makes the thing tick. If Apple thinks for me, when it comes to computers, I reckon that's what I am paying for. I am happy to let them think for me wrt the tech stuff. I am an attorney, not an IT specialist. If I sit at my computer and focus (which means not getting sidetracked by checking in on this forum) I can easily make a hundred bucks an hour for however many hours I care to put in in a day. I suppose I could take time to learn and understand IT better, but, in my view, it is better for me to spend my time doing what I know how to do, to earn money to pay someone else to do for me the things I am less able to do; things they do all the time and at which they are skilled.

You mention the old 386 running your solar system. Our wind and solar system is run by Outback equipment I paid someone to select and install. Needs no attention really, not for the 12 years it has been in service. The only item that needs attention is the battery bank. We have 8 Rolls Surrette batteries for which we paid about $1,000 apiece and they cannot be ignored for long. In our cool climate, they will last at least 20 years if maintained. So that small job I attend to myself. When those finally expire, might replace them with a Tesla Power Wall. Looks like finally something superior to lead acid.

I will admit there are some things I like to do for myself that do not really make much economic sense. A few days before making my present trip to the Phils, I wanted fresh salmon for dinner. I can buy a salmon in town for $25 or so. A salmon someone who fishes for a living caught. Someone who probably knows more about salmon than I will ever know or want to bother to learn. So, I walked down to our dock, got in our boat and went fishing. It took me about 3 hours to come home with one small (6-pound) salmon and one 18-pound ling cod (I caught the cod first, so I kept fishing until I got my salmon). So I used up what could have been 3 hours of chargeable time and a couple of gallons of gas. Hardly an economic venture. But I enjoyed every minute on the water. You probably derive similar pleasure from building your own computer from the ground up.

Anyway, I suppose one should get back to the topic of education, but this little diversion has been of interest.